Falcons squeeze past Liquid at ESL One Birmingham

Team Falcons rallied past Team Liquid 2-1 on Friday to advance to the lower-bracket semifinal of the ESL One Birmingham event in England.

After Liquid took the first map in 34 minutes on green, Falcons claimed the final two maps, both on green, in 57 and 36 minutes.

Slovakia's Oliver "skiter" Lepko paced the Falcons with an average kill-death-assist ratio of 8.7/2.3/11.0. Sweden's Michael "miCKe" Vu finished at 4.3/3.0/8.0 for Liquid.

Earlier Friday, Liquid temporarily survived with a 2-1 victory over HEROIC. Liquid sandwiched a 36-minute win and a 32-minute win on red around a 54-minute loss on green.

miCKe logged a 10.3/3.3/9.7 K-D-A ratio in the triumph. Belgium's Cedric "Davai Lama" Deckmyn wound up at 6.3/6.0/11.3 for HEROIC.

G2 x iG advanced to a lower-bracket quarterfinal with a come-from-behind, 2-1 win over Xtreme Gaming. After falling in 79 minutes on red, G2 x iG took the last two maps on red, in 50 and 43 minutes.

China's Du "Monet" Peng was the star for G2 x iG with a 14.7/2.0/9.0 K-D-A ratio. China's Guo "Xm" Hongcheng posted a 5.3/7.0/8.0 K-D-A ratio for Xtreme Gaming.

Twelve teams, including eight regional qualifiers, began the Dota 2 tournament, competing for a share of a $1 million prize pool and 26,640 ESL Pro Tour points. The group stage split the teams into two round-robin groups of six, where all series consisted of two games.

The top two teams from each group advanced to the upper bracket of the playoffs, the third- and fourth-place teams from each group moved into the lower bracket, and the other teams were eliminated. The double-elimination playoff bracket features best-of-three matches except for Sunday's grand final, which is best-of-five.

The playoffs continue Saturday with three matches:

--Upper-bracket final: Tundra Esports vs. BetBoom Team

--Lower-bracket quarterfinal: OG vs. G2 x iG

--Lower-bracket semifinal: Team Falcons vs. OG/G2 x iG winner

ESL One Birmingham prize pool

1. $300,000, 6,400 ESL Pro Tour points -- TBD

2. $175,000, 4,800 -- TBD

3. $120,000, 4,000 -- TBD

4. $85,000, 3,200 -- TBD

5-6. $57,500, 2,240 -- Team Liquid, one team TBD

7-8. $47,500, 1,040 -- HEROIC, Xtreme Gaming

9-10. $30,000, 560 -- Talon Esports, Team Spirit

11-12. $25,000, 280 -- Shopify Rebellion, Gaimin Gladiators

--Field Level Media